Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to graphics processing and, more particularly, to three-dimensional (3-D) graphics processing.
Description of the Related Art
Three-dimensional (3-D) graphics processing represents objects in a scene as a set of vertices that define primitives. For example, a triangle shaped primitive is formed of three vertices linked by three edges. The 3-D model is then projected onto the pixels of a two-dimensional (2-D) plane of a screen used to display the graphics. Shape is conveyed by varying levels of darkness or shading of the pixels in the screen. A shader determines the characteristics of each pixel based on lighting, position, orientation of the objects in the scene, and the camera point-of-view, some or all of which may change from frame-to-frame. Thus, in real-time graphics, the shader performs shading for a triangle by shading each pixel that is covered by the triangle in each frame. Consequently, the cost of shading increases with triangle count, pixel count, and a frame rate used to display the graphics. All of these factors are expected to increase as equipment providers produce higher-resolution displays and monitors that can operate at higher frame rates using higher fidelity models that require higher triangle counts.